Eating Disorders

Especially for college students, there’s a not-so-fine line between being image-conscious and size-obsessed. If you think you or a friend might be straddling it, read on. There’s no better time than National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (February 21 - 27) to clarify four common myths:

Myth No. 1: “Everybody diets; it’s normal that I’m so focused on losing weight.”

Fact: Specific behaviors and extreme attitudes set eating disorders apart from healthy weight-watching.

“Standing in a pool of vomit in the girl’s bathroom of my college dorm, I wondered, ‘How did I get here?’” says Kristen Moeller, a recovering bulimic who kept her eating disorder a secret for three years of high school before attending the University of Florida.

“While some of my classmates were clear about their goals for college and were actually attending courses and studying for exams, I was trying to find the safest places where I could throw up after bingeing.”

One study found that 25 percent of college-aged women have engaged in bingeing and purging, but this is far fewer than the staggering 91 percent of female college students who said they’ve attempted to control their weight through dieting. Of course, not all dieters have eating disorders, which are characterized by these behaviors:

- Bingeing and purging (bulimia nervosa)

- Self-starvation and extreme weight loss (anorexia nervosa)

- Recurrent binge eating without purging (binge eating disorder)

- Combination / other (eating disorders not otherwise specified)

Eating disorders are marked by extremes:

Extreme reduction of food intake, extreme overeating, or extreme distress about body weight or shape, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Myth No. 2: “Perfecting my body will perfect my life.”

Fact: Weight loss won’t fix any of life’s complex challenges.

A 2007 McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School study found that eating disorders frequently co-exist with issues that weight loss won’t remedy, including psychiatric disorders such as depression, impulse control, substance abuse or anxiety.

“College consisted of a lot of alcohol and drugs, bingeing almost daily, starving myself when I was ‘doing well,’ over-exercising and crazy relationships,” says Moeller. “I actually remember saying to my father, ‘I wish something was wrong with me so I could have some attention.’ Looking for that attention turned into an obsessive focus on how I looked.”

Says Patrick Bergstrom, a 2005 Wesley graduate who suffered from anorexia as a college lacrosse player: “I was secretly struggling with body image issues and the extreme fear of failure. When faced with adversity, I crumbled under pressure and used eating as a way to bring control back into my chaotic life.”

Myth No. 3: “I’m a guy, so I can’t have an eating disorder.”

Fact: Eating disorders do not discriminate -- millions of men suffer.

“I was told by many, ‘Guys don’t have eating disorders,’ and I listened,” says Bergstrom, founder of IChoseToLive.com, a creative eating disorders outreach program based on athletic principles. “I had no idea what was wrong with me. My hair was falling out, and my skin was puffy and pale. My weight was at an all-time low, and I could barely get out of bed. I cried out for help, and that’s when I was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa.”

Bergstrom is not alone: Males account for an estimated 5 to 15 percent of patients with anorexia or bulimia, and an estimated 35 percent of those with binge eating disorder, according to NIMH.

Myth No. 4: “I’m just trying to take charge of my body. There’s no danger in that.”

Fact: Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

At the time Bergstrom got into recovery, he was told he had less than a year to live if he did not continue treatment. A National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders study found that 5 to 10 percent of anorexics die within 10 years of contracting the disease, and 18 to 20 percent after 20 years, from complications related to their eating disorder, including heart failure … and suicide.

“I spiraled into a suicidal depression and attempted to hide it,” says Elizabeth Showers, who has been in recovery for her eating disorder since 1992. “I studied abroad in Spain my junior year. My plan was to get away and ‘grow up.’ I dove into my anorexia nervosa and became so thin that my teeth chipped, skin broke out and hair became brittle and started falling out.” Showers ended her trip early, and after about 30 days of eating normally, her suicidal thoughts disappeared.

Other health consequences of disordered eating can include (but are not limited to) osteoporosis, dehydration and kidney failure, overall weakness and fatigue, tooth decay and staining, esophageal rupture, peptic ulcers and pancreatitis.

Myth No. 5: “I don’t need help. I can deal with this.”

Fact: Effective recovery from an eating disorder requires a support system.

While statistics report that only one in 10 people with eating disorders receive treatment, help is available -- especially on campus. Because intensive professional therapies are necessary to treat an eating disorder, this is not something you can beat on your own. Treatment might include one or more of the following: psychotherapy, nutritional counseling, support groups, residential treatment or hospitalization (to treat malnourishment, severe depression or medical complications).

“Therapy throughout college kept me alive,” says Moeller. “Treatment was very difficult but worth every moment. I learned that ‘fat’ was not a feeling but actually that ‘feeling fat’ was an indicator of unexpressed emotions.”

“I volunteered at the student health care center, and I started to speak out. For me, every time I would tell my story, I was able to put one more piece of the puzzle back together again,” adds Moeller. “I realized that by being open and honest about what I went through, I was helping others that were either suffering or knew someone who was.”

For more information on eating disorders, visit NationalEatingDisorders.org or call its information and referral help line at 1-800-931-2237.

 

 

 

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